Paint: Go Easy on Me Pros

I love white cars and I love the contrast of black with the white so since the beginning I knew what color I was going to paint her: stark white with pitch black stripes. With the easy part decided the harder parts began. I needed tools to paint with, supplies, and a place to paint.

First I bought a pair of HVLP guns from Eastwood. Everything I came across online all agreed that HVLP was the best for automotive paint, and the Devilbliss guns I got were very well reviewed and a great deal; $110 for two nickel finished guns, three different sized fluid tips (1.3, 1.5, and 1.8), two stainless steel cups, a cleaning kit, and a regulator. All I had to buy from that point is an inline filter, but that's something you can get anywhere you can buy paint or even most hardware stores have them.

All the painting supplies I'm using come from Sherwin-Williams Automotive finishes. This stuff isn't cheap but it seems to be pretty high quality. Primer is FP410 which is a Urethane primer, that's what you want for fiberglass as it bonds best. I'm using FH411 as my hardener because it summer in NC and hotter than Satan's balls most days. But you should pick the most appropriate hardener for your temperature. I don't know the code for my paints but the colors are "Crystal White" and "Classic Black". Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes only carries one clear coat, and that's what I bought.

With the guns squared away and my supplies gathered, I needed somewhere to paint. Since I unfortunately don't know anyone with a professional paint booth I figured I would do the next best thing: I'd build my own. $30 and 1.5 hours later I had myself one ghetto-fabulous paint-booth. I will say I think it needs more lighting, so it you have some spotlights lying around this may be a good application.

Taped up the paint data sheets for quick reference. I've since moved them so in between coats and while mixing I can check them without breaking the seal of the booth and dragging in dust. If you didn't get data sheets with your painting supplies go find them ASAP, you NEED them.

Pile of supplies. They don't live in the booth, just storage for the moment

Overhanging strut with eye-hooks and wire for hanging smaller parts that don't have their own stands

So with a booth constructed it was time to teach myself to paint with an HVLP gun. First I taped a big sheet of butcher paper up in the booth. I practiced smooth tilting strokes, adjusted the paint and air flow on the gun and was ready to start. It would take me too long to explain the technique you're supposed to use when using the gun so again just checkout YouTube and pick a video. Good rule of thumb for this kind of thing is watch several videos and take their common denominator. Just one video may lead you astray.

Since I'd never painted with an HVLP before I figured I'd start with a small piece that'd be easy to sand off and start over if I messed it up: the headlight buckets.

PAINTING REQUIRES PATIENCE! You cannot rush this or it will look like shit. Be prepared for this process to take a LONG time. If you want a good result you'll save yourself time in the end by going slowly and carefully. If you find yourself frustrated or rushing STOP, take a break and come back later. I've already had to do that myself that I just was just creating more work for myself than making progress.

The process I've used:

1. Sand the surface with 100 grit (or a Scotch-Brite pad if you prefer that) to get it ready for the primer
2. Use surface cleaner on the part when it's inside the booth safe from dust and debris.***LET THE CLEANER DRY, in my situation 10 minutes was usually enough but if you try to paint when it's still on the surface you're gonna have a bad time.
3. READ THE DATA SHEET, for the HP410 it was 5-7 PSI at the gun, at a distance of 5"-7"
4. Spray on the first coat of primer, I got full coverage of the whole piece when possible but sometimes certain areas are hard to get with smooth strokes, don't rush they'll get covered fully in subsequent coats
5. Wait 5-10 minutes
6. Second coat of primer, again shooting for full coverage
7. Wait 5-10 minutes if you need another coat of primer, if you got full coverage with the previous 2 it likely isn't necessary
8. Wait 2 hours
9. Remove part from booth and examine for flaws. Any dents scratches, uneven areas or other imperfections should be pretty obvious at this point.
10. Fix/Fill/Sand imperfections, if you feel they're serious enough (large area needs sanding) go back to step 2 and continue back down
11. Sand the entire surface with 600 grit sandpaper. You're trying to smooth down orange peel. You should be able to feel the difference between an area you've hit and one that is un-sanded. It doesn't have to be perfectly flat at this point but don't be lazy. If you want to go crazy it'll likely help the finish be that much flatter but a little bit of orange peel can be eliminated with buffing at the very end. **NOTE as I did the hood I sanded the primer super smooth, this may have been detrimental as the paint then seemed to have trouble bonding at the normal speed, my tape kept pulling paint off the surface.
12. If the part needs stripes tape as much of the piece as you can, cover it with paper except for the area where the stripes are going to be and the immediate area. You're not trying to make a negative of the stripes here, just preventing unnecessary over-spray on the rest of the surface.
13. Clean the surface where you're painting (whatever isn't taped) and let it dry in the booth.
14. Spray on the stripe color, two coats with 10-20 minutes between coats, doing 2-3 coats. You want coverage of color not thickness, so if you get coverage in 2 coats STOP.
15. Let it dry for however long the data-sheet says, mine said 30 minutes tape free but I waited over an hour to be certain the tape wasn't going to mess up the finish. I'd recommend letting the paint dry overnight if that's an option, I found that even the hour sometimes had tape leaving marks on the surface.
16. Tape over where you want the stripes to stay. Use tape to measure distance between stripes, this will give you a much more consistent distance between than trying to actually measure the space. **Don't leave the tape on for extended periods of time (>2 hours). Even less if it gets hot in your booth. The adhesive comes off the tape and will muss up the surface and you CANNOT get it off easily.
17. PRESS DOWN THE TAPE. Rub the shit out of it. You want to buy the edge lock stuff or vinyl tape, it's a little more expensive but you'll feel stupid if you don't pay the extra dollar or whatever and your stripes have jagged edges.
    
18. Sand the stripe color around the tape with 600 grit, careful not to mess up the tape. If you skip this sanding step you'll get a clear line of different paint heights on the surface when you paint over with the second color.
19. Surface cleaner, let it dry in the booth
20. Spray on the 2-3 (sometimes more) coats of the primary color, 10-20 minute in between coats same rule as when painting with the stripe color, going for coverage not thickness.
21. Wait the 30 minutes (or if you're careful like me the 45 minutes) and remove the tape. You should have nice crisp stripes.
22. Surface clean where the stripes are, you don't want tape adhesive in your clear coat.
23. Clear coat, 2-5 minutes between your 2-3 coats. Coverage coverage coverage, here however if you go a little overboard with 3 coats it's not really detrimental, just more buffing to do later. 
24. Wait the 'Dust Free' time, and then some before taking it out of the booth (better safe than sorry)

1. if there are imperfections (there will be, sorry it's just gonna happen) wait 24 hours, then use 1500 grit sandpaper to hit the surface, then buff with rubbing compound.
2. I don't know about when you should use wax after buffing, when I find out I will update this.

.